Ovi Magazine Issue #26: WWI - 100 years - Published: 2014-07-28

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First, he needed to engineer a credible reason for war. Thus, in 1870, Bismarckattempted to place a Hohenzollern prince on the throne in Spain. Napoleon III,fearful of the prospect of theoretical war on two fronts - for the Hohenzollernprince was a relative of Kaiser Wilhelm I - objected.Bismarck turned up the diplomatic heat by releasing, on 14 July 1870, a doctoredversion of a telegram ostensibly from the Kaiser to Bismarck himself, called theEms Telegram. The effect of the telegram was to simultaneously insult bothFrance and Prussia over their inability to resolve the dispute over the Spanishthrone.Napoleon III, facing civil revolt at home over quite unrelated matters, andreceiving encouraging noises from his military commanders, responded bydeclaring war against Prussia five days later, on 19 July 1870.Once again, as was the case against Austria, the Prussian military machinedemolished the French forces. Napoleon III, who personally led his forces at thelost Battle of Sedan, surrendered and was deposed in the civil war that boiled overin France, resulting in the Third French Republic.Meantime the Prussian forces laid siege to Paris between September 1870 andJanuary 1871, starving the city into surrender.The consequences of the war were numerous. Aside from the usual territorialgains - France ceded both Alsace and Lorraine to Prussia and was forced to payswingeing reparations (equivalent to around $1 billion today) - the southernGerman states agreed to an alliance with their northern counterparts, resulting inthe creation of Bismarck’s cherished German Empire.Bismarck’s Need for AlliancesBismarck’s creation of a unified Germany was of direct relevance to the outbreakof war some 43 years later, since it resulted in the assembly of the key alliancesthat later came into play.For, having achieved his life’s aim, Bismarck’s expansionary plans were at an end.He had secured what he wanted, and his chief desire now was to maintain itsstability. He therefore set about building European alliances aimed at protectingGermany from potentially threatening quarters.He was acutely aware that the French were itching to revenge their defeat at theearliest opportunity - and the loss of Alsace and Lorraine to Prussia would proveto be a lasting sore. Indeed, the French plan for war in 1914, Plan XVII, was largelybased around the recapture of Alsace and Lorraine in the shortest possible time -with disastrous consequences.
Britain’s Splendid IsolationBismarck did not initially fear an alliance between France and Britain, for the latterwas at that time in the midst of a self-declared 1870s policy of “splendid isolation”,choosing to stay above continental European politics.If not Britain then, how about Russia and, conceivably, beaten foe Austria-Hungary?The Three Emperors League & Dual AllianceHe began by negotiating, in 1873, the Three Emperors League, which tiedGermany, Austria-Hungary and Russia to each other’s aid in time of war. Thishowever only lasted until Russia’s withdrawal five years later in 1878, leavingBismarck with a new Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary in 1879.This latter treaty promised aid to each other in the event of an attack by Russia,or if Russia aided another power at war with either Germany or Austria-Hungary.Should either nation be attacked by another power, e.g. France, they were toremain - at the very least - benevolently neutral.This alliance, unlike others, endured until war in 1914. It was this clause thatAustria-Hungary invoked in calling Germany to her aid against Russian support forSerbia (who in turn was protected by treaty with Russia).The Triple AllianceTwo years after Germany and Austria-Hungary concluded their agreement, Italywas brought into the fold with the signing of the Triple Alliance in 1881. Underthe provisions of this treaty, Germany and Austria-Hungary promised to assistItaly if she were attacked by France, and vice versa: Italy was bound to lend aid toGermany or Austria-Hungary if France declared war against either.Additionally, should any signatory find itself at war with two powers (or more),the other two were to provide military assistance. Finally, should any of the threedetermine to launch a ‘preventative’ war (a euphemism if ever there was one), theothers would remain neutral.One of the chief aims of the Triple Alliance was to prevent Italy from declaringwar against Austria-Hungary, towards whom the Italians were in dispute overterritorial matters.
Page 1: the e-magazine WWI / 20141914 - 201
Page 4: “One day the great EuropeanWar wi
Page 8: “No commander was ever privileged
Page 11 and 12: editorialated so much in those five
Page 14: “There is a price which is toogre
Page 18 and 19: Dr. Anis H. BajrektarevicEurope of
Page 20 and 21: Is the EU a post-Westphalian conglo
Page 22 and 23: for containment of Central European
Page 24 and 25: a contemporary Eastern Europe only
Page 26 and 27: actually instrumentalized two sorts
Page 28 and 29: In a nutshell, we can say that the
Page 30 and 31: Europe took place irreversibly and
Page 32 and 33: and its financial sovereignty (gone
Page 34 and 35: reality. These days, this reality i
Page 36 and 37: the ever smaller, incapacitated un-
Page 38 and 39: for the US. The very epilogue of th
Page 40 and 41: (with the exception of France) and
Page 42 and 43: 7. Bruton, J. (2013), How real is t
Page 44 and 45: The Causes of World War One
Page 46 and 47: One Thing Led to AnotherSo then, we
Page 50 and 51: A Secret Franco-Italian AllianceIn
Page 52 and 53: Agreements Set, The Occasional Mino
Page 54 and 55: To this end the French devised a st
Page 56 and 57: Prof. Emanuel L. PaparellaA Disastr
Page 58 and 59: Were we to apply this philosophy to
Page 60 and 61: would dominate the politics of the
Page 62: individuals.” Indeed, science dea
Page 66: “(World War I) was the mostcoloss
Page 69 and 70: Rene Wadlow is the editor of the on
Page 71 and 72: Thanos Raftopoulos. Born in early 1
Page 73 and 74: Prof. Ernesto Paolozzi Treasurer fo
Page 75 and 76: At the start of the war, these were
Page 77 and 78: shown to the United States. This br
Page 80: “But the old man would not so,but
Page 84: “Who said I was dead. Send me the
Page 88: John Singer Sargent’s Gassedprese
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Ovi Magazine Issue #26: WWI - 100 years - Published: 2014-07-28

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